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Dloin Stonehammer
'Current Life' Now, Dloin is at a strange crossroads in his life. No longer does he feel as if his lot in life is decided, but rather sees that he is forging it with each passing day. The world of Azeroth is once more plunged into turmoil as the Alliance and Horde go to war, and has been his way in the past, these were such times as when he'd form a crew and take to the seas again. Yet he hasn't determined if that is what he wants. So much of his life was defined by his role on the open ocean, and by his connection to Jaedean. Now that one of those is behind him, he is beginning to feel like maybe the other should be, as well. But will he truly abandon the seas? Only time will tell... 'History' There are a lot of stories surrounding Dloin Stonehammer's early years in life. Some say things about the day he was born, that he didn't cry as most infants do, that his mother bathed him in rum, or that he was born with a full beard. When confronted with these tall tales, Dloin neither confirms nor denies them. Dloin is particularly tight-lipped about his own past, and has been known to disappear for months at a time, out of reach of anybody, even those who would regard him as a close friend. The few times Dloin has been so inclined to share any information about his past, his stories are as wild and outlandish as the rumors spreading around Alliance and Horde territories alike, and none can seem to verify any truth behind his claims, so his history remains as elusive as ever. 'Early Life ''- Vanilla & The Burning Crusade' What is known of Dloin's past before his reputation in Azeroth began to grow are mere stories and anecdotes he has shared here and there, along with a few significant names. Dloin has shared his surname of Stonehammer on more than one occasion, though he is often reluctant to give it out until he feels he can trust someone. He has also shared that this surname is the name of his family clan. In trying times, or in times of great shock to the dwarf, he has let slip "by Grongeddin," and "blessed veins of Silverim," yet when asked about either one, he has said little to nothing about the meaning behind these exclamations. It can be verified by multiple witnesses that Dloin was a member of the Explorer's League some years ago. He traveled all around Azeroth with his fellow dwarven archaeologists, learning everything he could, not only about the past, but about the present state of the world as well. During this time, Dloin had met a Night Elf woman in the conflicted realm of Ashenvale. A wanderer like himself, the two of them took to each other immediately, each one seeking some measure of companionship on the road together. Yet each was filled with their own wanderlust, and she often sought solitude over company, and so their time together was always fleeting - a pleasant surprise when they met on the road, though it never lasted long. When h e looked to his friends and colleagues in the Explorer's League, he found it was too hard to make an honest living, too difficult to keep their heads above the water, so to speak. The war with the Horde - and eventually the war in Outland - were devouring the Alliance's funds, and many commodities that went towards the good of the community were now sent to various warfronts. It didn't take long for Dloin to set a plan into motion, finally seeing an opportunity for his dreams to reach fruition. Over long months he saved every single copper he received, denying himself all but the most dire of necessities. When his purse was large enough, he left the League of Explorers and traveled to the new Stormwind Harbor to speak with the chief engineer. Paying all the money he had, Dloin had a vessel built. Not a large ship, but a sturdy one that a small crew could man. After a tough time gathering a ragtag group of would-be sailors, adventurous farmhands, and experienced travelers to the Stormwind port, the ship so aptly named Windward set out from the grand city of Stormwind and into the great blue sea. 'Pirates of Khaz Modan - Early Wrath of the Lich King' The group took small shipping jobs wherever they could, and Dloin soon found that the less-than-legal jobs paid the best. Needing to feed his crew, and swearing not to raise blade nor barrel against any who didn't deserve it, Dloin Stonehammer began to make a name for his crew as they dodged Alliance patrols, smuggled goods to questionable destinations, and employed some less-than-honest folk. The name given to them by the few common folk who knew of them was the Pirates of Khaz Modan, a name as attention-grabbing as a Dwarf who fancied sailing. At their height, Captain Dloin had acquired a business partner in Stormwind who helped to keep the ship in good repair and the crew in good spirits in exchange for the Pirates of Khaz Modan to run regular shipping jobs for him, regardless the cargo. The crew often spent their shore leave at the Smokesky Tavern in the Dwarven District of Stormwind, where they shared drinks and merriment between jobs. When he was able to, he would even bring his Night Elf lover into Stormwind, the two of them enjoying a drink together before one or both had to leave a gain, answering their own personal call to adventure. Times were good for the crew, and they lived well and prosperously for years. Unfortunately, bad luck seemed to strike from all sides. During one voyage along the coast of the Eastern Kingdoms, the Windward was caught in a terrible gale off the coast of the Wetlands. The crew emerged unharmed, but the ship fell to the depths in a hefty wreckage. Around that same time, the owner of the Smokesky Tavern - a dwarf named Boris Bragges - was sent to the Stormwind Stockades for dealing with the Horde, and the Smokesky was demolished during the city's grand remodeling. Now without a ship, without a proprietor, and struggling to keep themselves afloat financially, the Pirates of Khaz Modan wandered Azeroth in search of jobs. Broken, scattered and secretive, the crew awaited the day when Captain Dloin Stonehammer could get them another ship worthy of their cause. Pirates of Khaz Modan - Late Wrath of the Lich King After capitalizing on the war with the Scourge of Northrend, Captain Dloin finally gathered enough coin to procure a new ship. This vessel was called the Seastorm, outfitted with eight cannons and even a mortar - which was quite the change from the gun-less Windward. Dloin captained the Seastorm with a strict sense of morality and ethics, which is as rare among pirates as a Dwarf is. Operating at once as both a haven for vagabonds and rogues, and also as a vessel to move goods under the nose of the Alliance, Captain Stone hammer has become a Robin Hood of sorts. He wasn't afraid to raise a threatening blade - or cannon - against Alliance guards and officials in order to get money and supplies to those who need it. Such a reputation for ambushing trade ships and supply-lines took the common name of Pirates of Khaz Modan and blew it up to make the crew almost famous across all of Azeroth. Dloin held his crew to an interesting ethical code, one that has been undoubtedly ingrained in his mind since a young age. In Dloin's own words, "if I were ta fell ye, ye'd be armed and ye'd see it comin'." That is to say that Dloin Stonehammer believes in honor on the battlefield, and getting stabbed in the back is one of the single lowest things someone can do. He held his crew to this same belief, training them to use diplomacy where possible, including intimidation, and only resort to violence if there was no other course of action. The nobles and officials of Stormwind, however, encourage the use of excessive force against the 'Pirate' crew, and so Dloin often found himself on the run from conflict. *Mutiny - A short story about Dloin's rival on the high seas, Sebastian Crell. 'The Lone Guardian - Catalcysm' Yet the day came when a member of Dloin's crew fell to the Alliance while on a job. One of Dloin's own mates was shot and killed in Westfall when the crew was attempting to carryout a job for a less-than-honest client. Dloin took the loss to heart, feeling more than responsible for the death of such a young recruit. As such, he disbanded the crew, sold the Seastorm, and turned his eyes inward, seeking solitude and alcohol, leading to some of his darkest times. He fled Azeroth, making his way through the Dark Portal and back to Outland. He spent a good amount of time in Outland, fighting back against the Horde remnants and keeping the few remaining demons in check. Yet, every time he passed through the grand city of Shattrath, he saw the portals leading back to Azeroth, and he knew that soon there would come a day when he would have to face his own demons, let go of the past, and move on. Letting go of the past was never something Dloin excelled at, though, and he remained in Outland until he heard the conversations of other adventurers, claims that the elements themselves were rising up against the civilizations of Azeroth, that a cult of doomsayers had become more apparent in the streets of the grand cities, and that the world itself seemed as if it were taking the deep breath before the plunge. Dloin's inability to forgive himself is only surpassed by his drive to protect others. Even with much of Outland still a mystery to him, he headed back to the city of Stormwind to see if the words of these people were true. Sure enough, he soon found cultists being hauled into the stockades by the dozens, shouting about the impending doom of the world. Knowing that living a life of fear was something nobody deserved, Dloin did his part to keep the cultists under control, sending them to the same stockades he had served time in on more than one occasion. Yet it all proved very futile, as within a few weeks the elements of Azeroth rose up and assaulted all of the lands. Dloin soon found himself fighting off the forces of wind and water, of earth and fire, freeing entrapped commoners, losing his sorrow in the knowledge that there were more people to protect. Yet nothing Dloin could've done would have protected Stormwind, or the rest of Azeroth, from the terror that came after. Deathwing himself rising again was a force nobody could have hoped to expect, and the Shattering that rang across all of the world was a wake up call in the worst kind to many people, Dloin included. This drive for action in the face of cataclysmic disaster ignited Dloin to reform the Piratres of Khaz Modan. He gathered those that were truly loyal to him from the past - as well as a handful of enterprising new recruits - and together they 'procured' the Seastorm from the Goblin that had purchased it from Dloin some time ago. The crew set sail on the open seas under the orders of Captain Dloin, the salty old dwarf was at some of his happiest times as they helped fight back against the rise of the Twilight's Hammer. *The Dream - A short story which takes place with Dloin's crew during the time of the Cataclysm. *We Dwarves Mest Stick Tagether, Don't Chya Know? - A short story about how Fjarli Firefist first encountered Dloin Stonehammer. 'The Last Great Voyage - Mists of Pandaria' When the hidden continent of Pandaria was finally revealed, every adventurous soul in Azeroth had their eyes turned southward - and Captain Dloin was no different. Yet he and his crew wouldn't last long in the war-torn seas off of Pandaria. As they sailed southward, they were accosted by both the Alliance and the Horde, and eventually they Seastorm struck a hidden reef off the north coast of Pandaria, sending the crew into the drink. They swam for a nearby island - which turned out to be inhabited by all manner of dangerous dinosaurs. The crew eventually sneaked onto a Horde warship passing nearby, and then found their way back to the shores of Pandaria. While on that lost continent, an old artifact that Dloin had recovered from a raid on a titan ruin years ago began to pulse with a strange energy. The crew and Dloin eventually went separate ways, with the captain wandering the wilds of Pandaria as he attempted to find the reason why this artifact reacted the way it did. His journeys in Pandaria brought him from solitude in the wilderness to becoming an honored ally of the Jinyu to a captive of the Horde to an impromptu student of the Tian Monastery. Yet Dloin was largely numbed to many of these experiences, as his mind was bent on the singular goal of discovering the secret behind his resonating crystal. And it wasn't until he came across an orc warlock who claimed to have knowledge of the crystal's purpose that Dloin finally found himself leaving Pandaria, bound for the wilds of southern Kalimdor. During his search spanning many months, Dloin Stonehammer came down with a strong sense of apathy towards his life, falling into a short-tempered demeanor that is very uncharacteristic of how he once was. He began to show his age as his hair lightened from black to gray, and while he was a fan of drinking before, at this time he was often either intoxicated or hung-over from the night previous. He found little reason to take decisive action, and it seemed the loss of Pirates of Khaz Modan, and his ship, was weighing heavily on his mind. He eventually gave up on the crystal, now having gone silent and still once more. He staggered through bars and down city streets, now a most disagreeable dwarf in place of the jovial and excitable adventurer he once was. However, after reconnecting with former crew member, and close friend, Taedius, and being pushed to see the world anew by other old friends, he has slowly been reclaiming his old self, his charisma and charm showing through once again. 'Dloin, Young & Old - Warlords of Draenor' After spending some time in Gadgetzan with old friends, Dloin took to wandering south of the city in the growing twilight. Nightfall on the edge of the desert was a beautiful sight for the old dwarf, and it was on one of these short journeys that his crystal resonated once more. Using the strength of its reaction as a guide, he followed it out into the desert until he came to a most perplexing sight - a sailing ship, marooned high on the peak of a nearby mountain. As he approached the ship, he saw an ancient Night Elven tower nearby, and the closer he got to the base of the small mountain, the more strange oddities he saw. He had found his way to the Caverns of Time, though he did not know it. Wandering into the Caverns of Time, Dloin was taken back at the sights before him, most of which defied his sense of where - and when - he was. Twisting and turning through the caverns, Dloin eventually came up on a place where members of the Bronze Dragonflight were resting, and by this time his crystal vibrated with all of the subtlety of a Gnomish Gyrocopter. The Bronze Dragons before him must have sense its power, for they advanced on Dloin, and rather than stopping to reason with them, the dwarf turned and fled. Losing his way through the tunnels, he eventually emerged out in the tropical climes of southern Stranglethorn Vale, and the undamaged goblin statue just off shore told him that he was no longer in his own time. Shortly thereafter, Dloin bumped into himself, although younger and less world-weary. The two conversed for a long time, with OId Dloin trying desperately to convince Young Dloin to avoid the life of piracy - it would only lead him to sorrow and solitude. Young Dloin thought his older self was merely disillusioned, and that he had made mistakes and choices that would surely never befall Young Dloin. The two shared an entire day together wandering the wilds of Stranglethorn before they unwittingly stumbled into a Naga camp and were split up. In the confusion, Young Dloin fled back the way they had come, and wound up inside the Caverns of Time and back into the current timeline! Young Dloin found the lack of Old Dloin's fame and infamy - something still in its height back in his old timeline - to be quite disheartening. Young Dloin sought to change that, and proceeded to make a name for himself in the cities of the Alliance, digging into Old Dloin's savings from a lifetime of pirating and buying drinks and extravagent gifts for all manner of folk. Word spread of Dloin's joviality and generosity until eventually his Night Elven companion heard and sought him out. She saw through the ruse almost immediately, knowing that this young dwarf who was parading around, claiming to be Dloin, was not the same Dloin she knew - though he did bear a shocking resemblance. She made it her duty to restore things the way they were, and brought Young Dloin back to the Caverns of Time, where they worked together with the Bronze Dragonflight to track down Old Dloin and return the two to their proper home timelines. During his displacement, however, Old Dloin had lost the resonating crystal, but that was easy to dismiss when met face to face with the woman he hadn't seen in far too long. After reuniting Young Dloin with his crew, the two of them returned to the current timeline before going their separate ways once more. 'I Will Wait - Legion' Back in his home timeline, Dloin traveled the world again, embarking on solo treks from Booty Bay to Stormwind, then from Stormwind to Ironforge, and then back. He had traveled these roads hundreds of times in his past, yet now he wasn't bearing any urgent message to Alliance officials, nor rushing to meet with potential crew mates. Rather, he was now simply enjoying the trips, taking his time and conversing with other travelers and adventurers in various taverns and inns along the way. One time, while staying in Stormwind City again, he received a letter from his Night Elf companion, indicating she would meet him there in short order. Hoping this was finally their time to settle down together and enjoy the rest of their days in each other's company, he put his travels on hold, keeping a nightly vigil over the harbor of Stormwind, waiting to see her disembark the ship from Teldrassil. He waited and waited, but she never came. Months passed, and his hoped waned, though he refused to admit to himself that seeing her again was very unlikely at this point. It wasn't until he reunited with an old Wildhammer friend, Fjarli Firefist, that he finally worked up the nerve to leave Stormwind after almost a year of waiting. Aboard a ship captained by a friend of Fjarli, Dloin sailed to northern Kalimdor. When the ship docked at the piers in Darkshore, Dloin made it his personal mission to determine why his companion had not arrived as she said. After much investigation, he found out that his worst fears were true - she had met her end during the Legion invasions that had been plaguing the lands of Azeroth. The depression that gripped Dloin at this point was unrelenting, and he soon returned to Stormwind City where he spent his days in a drunken stupor. He remained mostly secluded, and undeniably irritable. He had no interest in socializing with anybody, even those he had come to know and trust. *Learning to Fly Again - A short story in which Dloin comes to the decision to leave Stormwind. *The Parting Glass - A short story in which Dloin finally copes with the loss of Jaedean. Other Stories *Home At Last - A short story depicting the eventual fall of Dloin. 'Personality and Traits' Dloin is a Dwarf of strong moral values, morals that hold sway even above his connections to the Alliance. In his travels he's seen the hardships of the commonfolk while the rich prosper from taxation and other charges. Unable to swear allegiance to a society so entrenched in aristocracy, Dloin found it in his best interests to become a free-trader. He moves goods and wares from one part of the Alliance to another, dodging the standard trade routes, bypassing tolls and shipping taxes and other laws that keep the rich head, shoulders and chest above the rest of the Eastern Kingdoms. He is an aged Dwarf, but he is lit with the fires of youth, with a spirit and vigor that goes well beyond his age. Dloin is mighty fond of rum and mead, much like the rest of his kin, although he has been known to overindulge on occasion, making nothing but a fool of himself in public. He leads his small, ragtag crew with great respect. They are the travelers, the road-weary, the adventurous, theold and the young, the lawful and the chaotic. They are from all walks of life, and they come and go amongst his crew as they wish. Labeled as pirates by local guards and militia, his crew has been hunted in the past for their evasion of trade laws, but every time they seem to skirt by without much conflict. Dloin is a calm and collected Dwarf when his head isn't loaded with drink. He is precise and calculative, he is greatly receptive to criticism and advice from all others, and he takes all consequences into account for his actions. He tries to lead the "pirates" as best he can, and no one questions his ability to do so more than himself. Always working for his own approval, he is constantly just shy of the standards he sets for himself, and has, on rare occasion, presented this vulnerable side of him to a few trusted others. References Adapted from the original Moon Guard Wiki for fair use. Category:Characters Category:Dwarf Category:Bronzebeard Dwarf Category:Pirates of Khaz Modan Category:Blacksmiths